Long-term Programs of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council

1. Long-term Programs of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council Mandy Lindeberg – NMFS AFSC Auke Bay Laboratories Scott Pegau – Prince William Ssound Science Center AK Forum for the Environ. Feb 14, 2019

2. EVOS Trustee Council Programs Globally Discoverable!

3. Gulf Watch Alaska Program Overall Goal:Provide sound scientific data and products that inform management agencies and the public about the EVOS-affected regions of the GOA • Sustain and build upon existing time series data in EVOS-affected region • Monitor multiple ecosystem factors and their potential impacts to injured resources • Make current and historical ecosystem data readily available to a wide variety of users • Develop science synthesis products for management agencies and the public for decision making • Collaborate with regional partners

4. GWA Ecosystem Components & Scientists Environmental Drivers Pelagic Ecosystem Nearshore Ecosystem • GAK-1 – Danielson, Weingartner • Seward Line – Hopcroft, Coyle • PWS Oceanography – Campbell • Kachemak Bay –Holderied, Baird • Cont. Plankton Recorder - Batten • Killer Whales – Matkin • Summer Marine Birds – Kuletz, Kaler • Forage Fish – Arimitsu, Piatt • Humpback Whales – Moran, Straley • Winter/Fall Seabirds - Bishop • PWS, Kenai Fjords., Kachemak Bay, Katmai • Status of >200 species – e.g. sea otters, nearshore birds, oyster catchers, intertidal organisms • Coletti, Esler, Kloecker, Monson, Weitzman, Konar, Iken, Bodkin, Ballachey, Dean, Robinson, Lindeberg

5. Leveraging of Funds Continues • GWA$3M/year - cost-share, in-kind, direct funds, and other support funding due to multi-agency program structure • NSF$1.2 M/year, plus ship-time - NGOA LTER program began sampling in 2018 (UAF); leverages, complements and enhances GWA program activities • PWS RCAC - funding acquired by HRM Program Lead for summer aerial surveys of forage fish; GWA has opportunity to conduct concurrent ship-based ground truthing Combined Survey footprint for GWA and LTER

6. GWA Recent Findings - Bottom Line • 2014-16marine heat wave: - prey shifts, increase in gelatinous zooplankton, change in predator behavior, disease, die offs and unusual mortality events • 2018:- Some physcial oceanographic metrics appear to be returning to baseline levels- Biological systems are still recovering from event Marine Heat Wave in GOA, 2014 (Di Lorenzo and Mantua, 2016) GAK 1 Mooring – long term warming trend 2018 1970

7. GWA Recent Findings GAK 1 Mooring Heat IndexTemperatures have returned to long-term means during 2017-18 Seward Line - May large copepod & euphausiid biomassBoth are above average, not a limiting factor PWS OceanographyTemperatures in 2018 are retuning to baseline;warm water zooplankton species still persist Continuous Plankton Recorder NGOA shelfAbundance of large diatoms, mean copepod community size and zooplankton biomass indices were positive in 2017 suggesting improved productivity Seabird-derived forage fish index, Middleton IsCold water species like capelin have still not returned in diets of seabirds Humpback whalesHumpback whale encounter rates remain at lowest levels recorded by GWA PIs through 2018 Nearshore ecosystemAcross NGOA showed declines during 2014-17 for algal cover and sea stars; temperature and adult Pacific mussels increased during this time Contribution NMFS 2017-18 Ecosystem Status Report to NPFMC

8. GWA Data and Publications for 2018 • 22 Final Reports • 13 FY17 Annual Reports • 13 FY19 Work Plans • 11 manuscripts • 16 indicators for GOA ESR • 52 presentations • 20 outreach events • 4 dataset updates published to DataONE

9. Collaborations and Users Continue • NMFS AFSC- Ecosystem Status Reports, NPFMC • NOAA Alaska Regional Stranding Network -Marine mammals • National Park Service - interpretive program • USFWS - bird observer, NOAA research vessel • International North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) - 5 Year Report • AOOS - OA and HAB An unexpected collaborator

10. GWA – Visit us Online! • GWA primary outreach tool is the GulfWatchAlaska.org websiteWe provide information to the public on: the program, projects, reports, publications, educational resources, videos, photos, and the latest news.

11. PWS Herring Research & Monitoring • Modeling – Trevor Branch – UW • Aerial and age surveys – Stormy Haught – ADFG • Acoustic surveys – Pete Rand – PWSSC • Disease research – Paul Hershberger – USGS • Reproductive maturity – Kristen Gorman – PWSSC • Herring migration – Mary Anne Bishop – PWSSC • Coordination – Scott Pegau – PWSSC • Research fellowship – Maya Groner – Disease • Research fellowship – David McGowan – Recruitment & Environment • Current Program Projects – Scott Pegau Program Lead

12. PWS Herring Spawn Survey • Lowest miles milt on record

13. PWS Herring and Disease • Antibody information provides a different story • The existence of VHSV antibodies remains moderately high • Working on the best way to incorporate antibody measurements into the model 2015 was the start in the recent decline in miles of milt

14. Effects on Herring Recruitment/Mortality Looking at all factors that we have records for to see if we can find causes for the recent and historic declines plus the lack of recovery • Starting to examine how different environmental factors affect population and recruitment levels • 21 time series 1980-2012

15. Herring and Oil • Looking for long-term genetic changes due to exposure to oil • Lab experiments how exposure to oil affects disease susceptibility Sampling design for population genomics: 3-decade time series in Alaska + populations from latitudinal distribution of species. Whole genome sequence from 71-96 fish per time/population

16. Outreach – Focus on Local Communities Chugachmiut two-way listening sessions (spring Homer, AK): “I am so excited to learn about the Gulf Watch Alaska program. This is exactly the information our community members need. There are lots of environmental changes people in our village are observing; hearing this information would be helpful for them to understand why. I wish I could either bring them all hear to listen or take all of this information directly back to them. This is really the information we need.” Nancy Yeaton, paraphrased Native Village of Nanwalek Chugachmiut Local Environmental Coordinator • Chugachmiut- a native non-profit organization that services seven communities in the Chugach Region: Cordova, Tatitlek, Chenega Bay, Valdez, Seward, Nanwalek and Port Graham • GWA/HRM members helped review Herritage Kit curricula related to food from the sea, watersheds, and climate and met with village elders to discuss how they could be improved

17. Outreach – Focus on Local Communities Visiting Kachemack Bay villages (Spring 2018): • Port Graham – GWA/HRM members held an information exchange outreach event in Port Graham during which community members discussed the nearshore environment, changes in ocean conditions, and fish disease • Seldovia – GWA/HRM team members supported the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in an outreach event sponsored by Seldovia Village Tribe in Seldovia related to marine bird die offs • A similar effort will be made with Prince William Sound communities in the future “I learned about a lack of sea otter harvest due to the loss of knowledge. Observations of changes in sea otter distributions and diet over the years in Port Graham. These were all new and surprising to me, and helped to make sense about sea otter behavior in the Port Graham area.” Ben Weitzman Nearshore Ecosystems Co-PI USGS

18. GOA Workshop, 2018 Ocean Sciences, Portland Oregon Long-Term Big Picture: Legacy Datasets WE ARE SITUATED TO BETTER UNDERSTAND ECOSYSTEM CHANGE GWA CPR Seward line ? Herring Marine birds Killer whales Middleton Is. seabirds Sea otters GAK 1 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 EVOS PDO, ENSO cycles MHW warming

19. Thank You • St. Augustine, summer 2015 • New Reality for Alaskans?